An Enthralling Monday Evening with Bruno Major 

You wouldn’t expect for a line to be all the way around the block filled with young adults dressed in flowy skirts, florals, and oversized sweaters to be in SF on a Monday night in September. But with Bruno Major in town, that was the exact scene I was witnessing as I walked up to The Warfield Monday evening. Giddy with excitement, there seemed to be an endless sea of college-age kids taking pictures of the huge sign in front of the venue advertising the headline artist, with security rushing around them to attempt to create some form of a line. As I rushed inside, lucky enough to have a kind security guard direct me to skip the line and find the small tiny table that was “will call”, I realized that finding my way into a sold out show (with a press and photo pass now adorning my shirt) was a sort of luck I would never experience again. 

 

The theater was already packed with people by the time I had fully made my way inside, dedicated fans at the barrier bragging to the photo pit that they had been lining up as early as 4:30 in the afternoon. There was a buzz in the air as background music of the likes of Elton John, Randy Newman, and a song from The Aristocrats (strangely enough) played amongst the murmurs of the crowd waiting in anticipation. As I made my way through the crowd to find my way to the photo pit, I got to hear the various different experiences of those who were waiting for the show to begin, and how they got to the concert and how they found Bruno Major.

 

As the lights dimmed, Lindsey Lomis, the opener for the evening, came out with just a guitar and a grin, telling the crowd that she “wanted to make a crowd of 2,500 people feel like her friends by the end of her set.” Her gorgeous voice enchanted the audience, with songs that really exemplified the best of her sort of “old soul” jazz inspiration that blended with pop seamlessly. Every song she played had some sort of small anecdote or story to preface it, whether it be about how she got to open for Bruno Major in the first place, or her stories of a man who might’ve stalked her as he ended up on the same flight as her.  Personal favorites of mine from her set were “DAYDREAMING,”  a cover of “Just the Two of Us”, originally written Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers, and “die with my friends”, exemplifying her voice as she flawlessly sang with countless riffs that seemed too good to be true.  Her set was a mix of released and unreleased music that the crowd fell in love with – proving the statement that Lomis had said earlier that “SF would be the best crowd to vibe along with”. Lindsey’s set was one that set the perfect tone for the prelude to the headliner of the night.  

 

When Major took the stage, he immediately exuded an energy that entranced the audience, starting his set off with “The Show Must Go On,” a song that kicked off the night with the perfect amount of energy. While I was running around the photo pit, there was an obvious enjoyment of the atmosphere by Bruno Major as he continued to perform, attempting to get as close to the crowd as he could while playing his electric guitar. The energy he had during his first three songs continued throughout the rest of the night, with songs like “Regents Park” and “Wouldn’t Mean a Thing”. Through his soft notes and familiar tunes, Bruno Major’s entire set just felt like you were sitting in a room with friends, soaking in the company and being able to simply just enjoy the music being played for you.

 

Perhaps one of the best parts of the show was when Major moved to perform on the piano, much to the delight of the audience. Performing a couple of songs just by his lonesome, this section of the evening was markedly more personal from the rest,as Bruno sang “Just The Same”, a song that Major noted was written about the sort of bubble one lives in with their significant other, and what that world looks like. Another highlight from this stripped-back portion of the night was “A Strange Kind of Beautiful”, a piece that was co-written by artist Phairo, a song about true love from a different perspective than what a conventional love song depicts. 

 

From songs that he wrote before he ever knew that he would be a singer to some that he wrote in inspiration of places or feelings that no longer exist, there was an undeniable feeling throughout the night that the performance was incredibly personal. Even in a theater with 2,500 people, it felt like Major was simply singing to a group of people that he considered friends, even asking the audience which of his songs he should play, taking recommendations from the audience at one point. Sharing stories about his life and what inspired his music provided transitions between the various songs he performed, my personal favorite coming from when he sang a song on the piano that he wanted to be inspired by Chopin, but ended up sounding a bit more like Beethoven. Perhaps the most intimate part of the already-intimate night was when Major sang “Nothing”, his most popular song by far, allowing the audience to sing a verse while he was simply allowed to soak in and enjoy the moment in which his music was being appreciated. As the evening winded to an end, Major teased before his “last song”- “We Were Never Really Friends” that this would be the absolute last song- there would definitely not be any more songs of any kind, leading the crowd through what I found to be the most amusing hint towards an encore that I have seen at a concert. 

 

For his encore, Bruno Major performed what I consider to be my favorite song of his (although it is one of his most popular songs) “Easily.” There were gasps of excitement when the opening chords echoed throughout The Warfield, the audience singing along loudly and proudly the entire song. The night ended with “The End,” and the show literally went out with a bang, confetti flying into the crowd as a last gift of Major’s as his time on stage ended. 

 

With the excess confetti fluttering everywhere throughout the venue, and even leaking out into the streets of San Francisco, I knew I had just had a night that was unlike any other Monday night in September that I’ve ever experienced. Bruno Major’s night at The Warfield was one that enthralled the audience- and it was a night that I will certainly never forget. 

Article by Ashley Mauldin 

Photography by Ashley Mauldin